Question: $f(x) = \dfrac{ \sqrt{ x - 4 } }{ x^2 + 10 x + 16 }$ What is the domain of the real-valued function $f(x)$ ?
Answer: $f(x) = \dfrac{ \sqrt{ x - 4 } }{ x^2 + 10 x + 16 } = \dfrac{ \sqrt{ x - 4 } }{ ( x + 2 )( x + 8 ) }$ First, we need to consider that $f(x)$ is undefined anywhere where the radical is undefined, so the radicand (the expression under the radical) cannot be less than zero. So $x - 4 \geq 0$ , which means $x \geq 4$ Next, we also need to consider that $f(x)$ is undefined anywhere where the denominator is zero. So $x \neq -2$ and $x \neq -8$ However, these last two restrictions are irrelevant since $4 > -2$ and $4 > -8$ and so $x \geq 4$ will ensure that $x \neq -2$ and $x \neq -8$ Combining these restrictions, then, leaves us with simply $x \geq 4$ Expressing this mathematically, the domain is $\{ \, x \in \RR \mid x \geq4\, \}$.